China Southern Airlines senior
executives have chosen New Zealand as the location to host
250 top travel agents from China for its annual agent
incentive event in December – travelling on the
airline’s brand new A380 aircraft.

"The visit from
such a large group of travel opinion leaders will provide
huge potential for future promotion of New Zealand in this
key outbound travel market," says Glenn Wedlock, General
Manager Aeronautical Commercial for Auckland Airport.

"These are the top China Southern travel partners, and
this visit is very much in line with our focus on our
Ambition 2020 goals to develop more New Zealand experiences
and build higher quality offerings for Chinese visitors.
This is an incredible opportunity for the individual
operators and destinations that are part of their tour, as
well as for the New Zealand tourism industry as a
whole.”

"It’s very pleasing for Auckland Airport
to have played a key role in securing this incentive for
Auckland and New Zealand, and to be chosen as a partner in
this initiative. For New Zealand, it is a fantastic honour
to be the chosen country for this incentive visit and senior
delegation. This reiterates the commitment China Southern
has for the New Zealand market and the airline's focus on
its Canton (Auckland – Guangzhou – Europe)
services.”

The 250 delegates will be in New Zealand
for five days, visiting various tourist destinations around
Auckland, including new experiences on Waiheke Island, the
Bay of Islands, Rotorua, Hobbiton in Matamata and Waitomo
Caves. China Southern is also holding a gala dinner at the
Viaduct Events Centre for the agents, which will be attended
by New Zealand tourism industry and business leaders. Other
events for the delegation will include dialogue between the
New Zealand tourism and trade industries to further deepen
New Zealand and China relationships and opportunities.

"China Southern Airlines is committed to developing our
service with New Zealand and as a way of demonstrating this,
and rewarding our most successful travel agents, we chose
this country for our annual familiarisation programme. This
trip will allow the travel agents to experience what New
Zealand has to offer their customers first-hand, and in
doing so increase the opportunity for third-party endorse to
future travellers," says Mr Henry Dai, China Southern
Airlines’ New Zealand General Manager.

"We are very
happy to have a strong strategic partnership with Auckland
Airport, as this will enable us to succeed in this
market."

China Southern Airlines flies daily between
Auckland and Guangzhou (formerly Canton), China's third
largest city and the capital of the Guangdong province, a
major importing and exporting hub in China and the tourism
gateway to the rest of southern China.

China Southern
Airlines is the world's third largest airline as measured by
passengers carried and Asia's largest airline in both fleet
size and passengers carried. The airline flies to 121
destinations, flying A330-200 aircraft between Auckland and
Guangzhou, which have the capability to transport perishable
and other high value goods. China Southern is flying its new
A380 to New Zealand for two round trips during the
delegation visit. The A380 is a double deck aircraft and is
the world’s largest commercial aircraft flying, with
capacity to carry 525 passengers in a comfortable
three-class configuration.

Currently the airline still
has 136 aircraft on order, including 10 most recent models
of B787-800 and one aircraft jumbo A380-800 (four have been
delivered earlier this year), which creates big potential
for future growth.

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